12 Tons of Drugs Seized in Post-Soviet Security Bloc Operation

MOSCOW, October 4 (RIA Novosti) – More than 12 tons of illegal narcotics have been seized over several days in a joint operation by police from six countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Russia's drug control chief said Friday.

The drugs seized during the Kanal-Kavkaz operation include 10.5 tons of opiates of Afghan origin and more than 600 kilograms of heroin, said Federal Drug Control Service head Viktor Ivanov.

Afghanistan remains the world's largest supplier of heroin to neighboring countries, Ivanov said, commenting on the results of the operation, which he said involved over 50,000 personnel.

The CSTO is a regional intergovernmental military alliance of former Soviet states whose member states are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

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